Tory MP Zac Goldsmith’s private views came under the spotlight last night after it emerged that one of his closest allies believes that big business should be held responsible for terrorist outrages.

The London mayoral candidate was criticised by Labour for his long association with Helena Norberg-Hodge, a Swedish-born academic whose core belief is that the global race for economic growth is feeding the ‘desperation and fanaticism’ that drives extremism.

The MP is such a fan of Ms Norberg-Hodge, the producer of award-winning 2011 documentary The Economics Of Happiness, which backs communities against corporate power, that he has even given one of her books to David Cameron.

Tory MP Zac Goldsmith’s support for the views of academic Helena Norberg-Hodge, has come under scrutiny

If Mr Goldsmith defeats Labour’s Sadiq Khan in May’s election he will be in charge of the City of London, which generated £45 billion for the British economy last year.

Last night Labour claimed that Mr Goldsmith’s links to a campaigner who wanted to ‘take us back to the Dark Ages’ meant that he was ‘not fit to be London Mayor’.

Mr Goldsmith met Ms Norberg-Hodge, 69, when he joined the International Society for Ecology and Culture soon after it was founded by her in the 1990s. He remains an associate director of the outfit, which is now called Local Futures.

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Ms Norberg-Hodge recently set out her beliefs in an article called Globalisation And Terror. She wrote: ‘The rise of divisions, violence, and civil disorder around the world is a predictable effect of the attempt to force diverse cultures and peoples into a consumer monoculture.’

She added that ‘tragically’ the only solutions have involved ‘smart bombs, drone attacks, and wall-to-wall surveillance programs’ [while] governments continue to undermine cultural identity through policies promoting a worldwide monoculture for the benefit of global corporations and banks... such policies will only breed further desperation and fanaticism among people who already feel betrayed and disenfranchised’.

Mr Goldsmith has long been a maverick. In 2006, when the Tories were reeling from their third straight Election defeat to Tony Blair, he boasted that he hoped to ‘capture’ the party and use it to achieve his ecological ends.

A belief of Ms Norberg-Hodge, pictured, is that the global race for economic growth can lead to extremism

Last night Labour MP Stephen Pound said: ‘It is deeply concerning that for more than 20 years Zac Goldsmith has been a central figure in a group which campaigns for the complete reversal of economic development and which wants to take us back to the Dark Ages. It is clear that he is not fit to be Mayor.’

A spokesman for Mr Goldsmith said: ‘Helena Norberg-Hodge is a leading environmentalist and campaigner against poverty.

'To tackle terrorism we need to both promote community cohesion and act to deal with security threats.’